Promotic

Reports in the PROMOTIC system

Depending on the content requirements and the presentation format, it is necessary to choose a suitable technology for making such documents.

In the PROMOTIC system it is possible to use following technologies for report design HTML, e-mail, Excel, Libre Office, PDF etc.
The PROMOTIC system can also cooperate or provide data to specialized report design software solutions (e.g. Crystal Report).

PmaReport

Uses the HTML technology. The document contains keywords that are replaced by current values from the PROMOTIC application once the report is opened. It allows to display individual values, arrays of values in table form or as images.
 
Advantages:
- The system includes simple template preconfigurations of system data reports.
 
Disadvantages:
- HTML and syntax knowledge is required for HTML report template design.
 
See: Preconfigurations in group "Reports", Report examples

PmaPanel - Print panel into the PDF file

In the PROMOTIC application it is possible to print by sending the data to a virtual printer (Windows OS 11/10 contains "Microsoft Print to PDF") that does not print on a paper but into the file. In Windows OS 8, 7 and older systems it is necessary to install another third party software.
 
Print panel with printer selection:
JavaScriptVBScriptSelect and copy to clipboard

pMe.Root.Print("");
 
Advantages:
- Simple, user controlled usage methods for printing of the panel.
 
Disadvantages:
- If is called on a panel that is not currently open then its content may be incomplete (missing trend curves, empty tables, etc.).
 
See: Print the open panel (or its part) to a printer or into the file, Print the panel (or its part) to a printer or into the file, How to print in the PROMOTIC system

Preconfiguration of reports for alarms and trends

It allows to display and print in tabular form, or save to csv file the recalculated data in the specified time range, in a specified period and according to other recalculation criteria.
 
Advantages:
 
Allows user to enter:
- selection of items to display
- time range and period
- type of quantity conversion
 
See: Preconfiguration "PmaReport - Alarm reports sorted by defined filtering criteria", Preconfiguration "PmaReport - Reports of trend data based on defined filtering criteria"

Microsoft Excel

1) PmaAdo or VBA
 
Allows writing data into Microsoft Excel documents by PmaAdo or by VBA technology.
 
Advantages:
- Allows easy automated creation of reports.
- Data from the PROMOTIC application can be then presented by Excel graphic features.
- Excel (since version 2007) allows own method for saving the resulting report into the PDF file.
 
Disadvantages:
- Installation of Microsoft Office on the target computer is required
 
See: Excel database, Examples of usage the Excel database in the PROMOTIC system, Examples of the work with applications Excel, Examples of the work with Excel application

2) Excel with active macro (*.xlsm)
 
Another approach is also possible, where the Excel application from the communication point of view behaves like a web client that requests data from the PROMOTIC Web server at the specified URL address and using the agreed parameters.
 
See: Preconfiguration "PmaWebDir - Sending the requested daily production data to the Excel file"
 
Advantages:
 
The received data can be processed by Excel in the form of graphic charts or values. This solution does not require that Excel is installed on the computer where the PROMOTIC application is running.

3) Excel file without MS Excel installed
 
A new Excel file with data content can also be created using an external "widget". This solution does not require Excel to be installed on the computer where the PROMOTIC application is running.
 
See: Preconfiguration "PmaWebDir - Creating an Excel file (*.xlsx) with data (without MS Excel)", Preconfiguration "PmaWebDir - Creating an Excel file (*.xlsx) from a sample file and adding data (without MS Excel)"

LibreOffice Calc

Can use the LibreOffice API technology to write data into Calc documents.
 
Advantages:
- Allows easy automated creation of reports.
- Data from the PROMOTIC application can be then presented by Calc graphic features.
- Libre Office can be downloaded and installed free of charge.
 
Disadvantages:
- Installation of Libre Office on the target computer is required
 
See: Calc database

SAP - Crystal Reports

Crystal Reports is a development tool that allows to create complex database queries and present graphical results. The reporting process itself does not require knowledge of the SQL language, although it is possible to create queries using this language.
This program allows to create links between tables, select and group records, contains a rich set of options to hide unnecessary records, supports filtering based on user-defined formulas that improve data visualization capabilities.
 
Advantages:
- Designed for corporate analytics
- Easy report design by drag&drop
 
Disadvantages:
- Purchase of the licence is required.
- VBScript cannot be used to run Crystal Reports 2016 as you could in earlier versions.
- Crystal Reports 2016 (crw32.exe) does not accept command line arguments.
See also:
- PmaReport (object)
PROMOTIC 9.0.27 SCADA system documentation MICROSYS, spol. s r.o.

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